Articles by John P. Mello Jr.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet, on Monday called for government regulation of artificial intelligence technology in a speech at Bruegel, a think tank in Brussels, and in an op-ed in the Financial Times There is no question in Pichai's mind that artificial intelligence should be regulated, he reportedly said in Brussels. Th...

Apple and the U.S. Justice Department are at it again. This time it's over cracking a brace of iPhones owned by the Saudi Air Force cadet who killed three sailors in a shooting spree last month at the naval air station in Pensacola, Florida At a news conference held Monday to announce the findings of an investigation into the Pensacola incident, U....

The 300-plus mile trip between Cleveland and Chicago could take as little as 32 minutes by Hyperloop, according to a US$1.2 million feasibility study released earlier this week Hyperloop is the only form of high-speed transportation that is profitable and makes economic sense in the United States, maintains the 160-page study, a joint effort of Tra...

Measuring Broadband America, a 10-year-old FCC program to ensure that Internet service providers deliver on their connection speed promises to consumers, has become unreliable Companies including AT&T, Cox, Comcast and Verizon have been employing tactics to make their performance numbers look better than they actually are, The Wall Street Journal r...

Facebook on Monday rejected a request from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia for a "backdoor" in its end-to-end encrypted messenger apps to help law enforcement agencies combat crime and terrorism "Cybersecurity experts have repeatedly proven that when you weaken any part of anencrypted system, you weaken it for everyone, everywhe...

Twitter on Monday announced its formation of a new Privacy Center to give users more clarity on what it does to protect the information people share The center will host everything relevant to Twitter's privacy and data protection work, including initiatives, announcements, new privacy products and communication about security incidents, Twitter Da...

The European Union has launched a probe into how Google and Facebook gather, process, use and monetize data for advertising purposes The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, on Monday told CNBC that it has begun distributing questionnaires as part of a preliminary investigation into Google's and Facebook's data practices. ...

Google on Tuesday raised the curtain on its Stadia streaming gaming platform, and the early reviews are mixed at best For US$129, gamers can get the hardware they need to take the service for a spin -- a Stadia controller, and a Chromecast Ultra for playing games on a TV....

Apple is getting into the medical research field with its recent announcement of three studies to be conducted through its Research app Apple Watch and iPhone users in the United States can use the app to enroll in the Apple Women's Health Study, the Apple Heart & Movement Study, and the Apple Hearing Study....

A venture between Google and Ascension, one of the largest healthcare providers in the United States, will give the tech giant access to the sensitive medical information of as many as 50 million patients in 21 states Its venture with Google, called "The Nightingale Project," would enable it to improve the experience of patients, consumers, provide...

Google has published changes to YouTube's Terms of Service Agreement that have stoked fears among some users. The new terms take effect Dec. 10 One controversial provision addresses YouTube's hosting responsibilities....

University researchers have discovered a way to issue unauthorized commands to digital assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, Facebook Portal and Siri via laser beams The microphones in devices like smart speakers, mobile phones and tablets convert sound into electrical signals, but what the researchers found was that the mics react to light aime...

New products for the iPad and iPhone headlined Monday's opening keynote presentation at Adobe Max, the company's annual developers conference held in Los Angeles Photoshop for the iPad (pictured above) uses Adobe's artificial intelligence engine, Sensei, to enable new selection functionality....

Active Noise Cancellation is just one of the hot new features in the latest generation of Apple's AirPods The new AirPods Pro, which goes on sale Wednesday for US$249, combines earbud microphones with software to remove background noise and improve a user's listening experience....

Nvidia on Monday introduced two new versions of its Android TV-based Shield streaming product. Shield TV (US$149) and Shield TV Pro ($199) are replacements for the last generation of Shield video streamers, which Nvidia introduced in 2017. The Shield TV Pro retains the form factor of its predecessors -- the box-like form favored by the industry ge...

GoPro has begun taking preorders for its US$500 360-degree camera, the Max 360, and reviewers have begun to weigh in on the latest entry in the action camera company's line "GoPro has become a household name for its durable, portable little action cameras and the Max is no different. While the camera has a lot of great features, it was the ease of ...

Flaws in Amazon and Google smart speakers can expose users to eavesdropping and voice phishing, security researchers reported Sunday Researchers at Security Research Labs, a hacking research collective and consulting think tank based in Berlin, Germany, discovered that developers could create malicious apps for the Amazon and Google platforms to tu...

A new flagship smartphone, a slick refresh of Pixelbook Go, some home gadget improvements and a revamp of its wireless earbuds highlighted Google's annual hardware event held Tuesday in New York City ...

An option in Apple's Safari browser that's supposed to protect Web surfers from malicious sites has raised privacy concerns in some quarters The option, called "safe browsing," is turned on by default. Depending on where an Apple device is registered, the browser could be sending IP information to Tencent, a conglomerate with close ties to China's ...

New versions of operating systems are usually about slick interfaces and improved performance, but that's not what Apple was flogging about macOS Catalina upon its release Monday One of the hot new additions in the OS is Apple Arcade, a game subscription service featuring a batch of new, exclusive games....